An Easy to Follow Guide to Setting SMART Goals

Setting SMART goals for your business is crucial if you want to grow and expand. Unfortunately, setting loose goals or unachievable goals can do more harm than good. It can be easy to say, “I want to grow my social media,” but that simply isn’t enough. You need to set a specific, measurable goal that is attainable and relevant to your business with a time frame in mind.

Specific 

What exactly do you want to achieve? 

Instead of simply saying, “I want to grow my social media presence,” think about which platforms you could be using. After you know which platforms to use, figure out exactly what you want to do to improve your social media. Do you want to gain 100 followers? Do you want to get over 100 likes on every post? Maybe you need to be consistent on social media and your first goal is to simply post daily. 

Measurable 

How will you know you achieved this goal? 

If you have your specifics figured out, making it measurable is pretty easy. Let’s say you want to gain followers, views, likes, or comments you can simply use insights on social media. On the other hand, if the goal is more logistics related, like improving sales by 100% or improving profit margins by X amount, then you need to find a way to track your progress. If you can’t track your progress, then how do you know what you’ve achieved?

Attainable 

Can you realistically achieve this?

Some people are better at dreaming big than others. Make sure that the goal you’re setting is attainable for your current situation. Do you have the necessary skill set, resources, time, and energy to achieve this goal? Sometimes this is the part of the goal-setting phase where you need to decide if you need outside help. Hiring a consultant firm, like ours, can be extremely beneficial if you have the resources, but maybe not the time and necessary skills.

Relevant

Is this goal relevant to your current situation?

You need to make sure that the goals you set are relevant to your overall business plans and strategies. If you’re not getting website clicks, consider specific and measurable goals that will lead to an increase in website traffic. “I want to increase website traffic,” is not a SMART goal. This could be your main objective, but what individual goals will get you to that? “I want to increase my Instagram followers by 100 people by the end of the 2nd quarter,” is a SMART goal. It is specific, measurable, most likely attainable, and relevant to my current situation. 

Time Bound

When do you want to achieve this?

The final step to setting SMART goals is to make sure you set a time you want to achieve it. In our last section, I used the example of, “I want to increase my Instagram followers by 100 people by the end of the 2nd quarter”. In this case, “By the end of 2nd quarter” would be your time frame. It can be a day, month, or time frame, you just need to set a time that you want to accomplish your goal. Think back to all those school projects you did, you always had a deadline to get them done. The more time you gave yourself to work on the project the less stressed and more prepared you were. 

I’m sure we’ve all waited until the last minute to finish a project, but your business isn’t just a middle school project. Your business is your pride and joy, and you need to make sure you’re taking the necessary steps to grow and expand your business. If you need help writing up a business plan and accomplishing all of the SMART goals that you set, reach out to us. We have all of the tools and resources you need to be successful.